Treading the Shadows
by wiltheavatar
Summary: Trained to become a monster at an early age, Naruto excelled in what people wanted him to become. He lives his life working for his village, his father, but eventually found a mission that he had to take. In order to complete his self-proclaimed mission, Naruto must tread within the shadows.
1. Chapter 1

Treading the Shadows

* * *

Act I: In The Beginning

Prologue: The Asura

* * *

 _Asuras are considered malevolent deities who are generally more powerful than normal deities. They exist to pursue their goals, using violence and rage to fulfill their desires. Asuras are considered the embodiment of negative emotions, or sins including but not limited to greed, rage, lust. Different religions view asuras differently, some considered them great and venered, some considered them weak and hated._

 _It doesn't matter, all that matters is one thing. Asuras are born to bring destruction._

* * *

The situation was desperate, their strongest laid on the ground, broken, the others were exhausted after barely defeating their own opponents. The rain continued to precipitate, as if signaling their defeat, the slight tapping of individual drops hitting the round, an everlasting rhythm signaling their eventual death.

They could not move, their bodies debilitated, drained of all energy, they could not resist. They no longer had any spirit, their courage broken by the slow rhythm of the dropping rain.

There was a creaking sound, the sound of iron and wood, slowly but surely approaching the wearied people. The scratching sound of iron being dragged across the wooden floor. Ever so slowly, yet ever so surely.

There was no hope. Their strongest was defeated, he too laid on the ground, his allies spread out around him, unable to contain the akuma that they warred against.

The demon tread towards the fallen heroes, slowly but steadily, his cleaver in his hand. He was wounded yes, his enemy had come close to defeating the demon, however, being close and actually defeating him was two extremely different things.

He got close to the masked man, raising his blade, intent on ending his adversary's life. Then he swung with his remaining strength, trying to end this fight once and for all.

He aimed to kill, to slay.

But he was denied.

"What?" He exclaimed, his surprise unmasked, his eyes widened as his sword was deflected, deflected by a single blade.

In front of him stood a man, a man cloaked in black with red clouds. His new foe had on a straw hat, a rice farmer's straw hat with cloth dangling from the rim obscuring his identity. His black cloak with red clouds seemingly moving, yet not moving at the same time. In his hand held a black blade, a tsurugi, a straight blade with no guard. The enemy had no signs of distress as he singlehandedly guarded against the huge Kubukiribocho, unflinching and unwavering.

"You" He cried in alarm, "You."

"Me, yes me." The unrecognizable man said in amusement. "You make a horrible conversationalist you know, Momochi Zabuza. Very boring if you only know how to say the same word."

"You." He said a third time.

"Me, yes, me" By now the man identified as Momochi Zabuza had jumped back several meters, suddenly vigilant of his surroundings. "I thought we already established me. But of course, I could be wrong."

The straw hat with cloth protruding the rim covered the upper portion of the new assailant's face, failing to cover the grin this newcomer had on."Yes me. How very tragic, I wanted a fight, but it seems that my opponent's had mental damage and has become a rabid dog to be put down." Despite his hostile remarks the newcomer had yet to make a move, still standing in his original position with his much shorter blade drawn in a defensive manner in front of his chest.

"Momochi Zabuza, also known as Demon of the Hidden Mist, A-rank missing-nin. How very fascinated, how do you do? It seems that you're wounded, do you need some time off? I really want a good fight, but matching my skills against a wounded mutt really isn't fun."

"Who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." The anonymous man replied mockingly. "I really would tell you, but then I would have to kill you." He snickered a bit at his own little joke. "But then again, I think I will kill you anyways, just for the shits and giggles, and the fact you almost broke a very valuable asset to my organization. You see, my organization doesn't take kindly to those who act against us, whether intentional or not."

"Asset?" The masked man on the ground asked mostly to himself, but loud enough for the newcomer to hear.

"Ah yes, you are here. Hatake Kakashi. Moniker Sharingan no Kakashi, Copy Ninja Kakashi. A-rank shinobi from Konohagakure no Sato. Formerly 'Inu' of Anbu." The man recited, looking directly at the new revealed Kakashi turning his back to Zabuza. "It seems you've lost your touch, or is it old age? I heard old age is a shinobi's greatest enemy, but then again, I'm not really afraid of it being young and all, and there are ways to circumvent that inconvenience. Or was it your students you had to dedicate some attention to. Interesting. You are too naive. Too weak. If you dedicated your full attention to this scrimmage I'm sure .you would have come out on top. But you had bonds, bonds make you weak, they make you worry, they make you unable to give it your all. How very weak, but very interesting."

"Who are you, how did you know me. That information should be classified. Impossible."

"Are you guys friends or something?" He paused waiting for a reply, but none came. "Asking the same questions, you sure are close. But you Kakashi, let me tell you something. Confidential just means more troubling to get, not impossible, no, no, definitely not impossible. Just harder, nothing more, nothing less.

He turned back to the demon. His head slightly tilted forward allowing the cloth dangling from his hat to obscure more of his facial features. Now to you. You tried to kill an asset, for that you have to die. I'd like to fight you at full strength, but you know the saying, 'the strongest beast is one driven to a corner'. I have driven you to a corner haven't I, Mr. Momochi. Now fight me, show me your desperation, show me your strength, then I shall permit you to die. Now come."

Zabuza had no choice. Despite his body being broken, he raised his sword once more. His proud blade again brought out to seek death. He readied himself, slowly inhaling and exhaling.

"You need a moment? Take your time, please don't die from a heart attack. It'd be very anticlimactic."

Kakashi sweatdropped.

Under his own mask Zabuza smiled, this man, despite his obvious strength was an amateur. Allowing him to gather his breath, to coordinate his breathing, to reestablish his rhythm will be this arrogant kid's last mistake.

He inhaled, then exhaled, slowly building oxygen back into his body. Then he inhaled, and didn't exhale. Then he charged.

He swung his blade rapidly in succession, cleaving forward with unnerving speed, fluidly yet choppy at the same time, a dance of death. But none his strikes ever met the mark, his rapid slashes meeting nothing but air. He attacked in every direction, every angle, using his large physique as a platform for nearly inhuman attack angles. Yet they all failed to meet their mark. His every slash, fluid and strong, each slash targeting a different part of his assailant's body none of them struck, it was a dance of death for both of them, with Zabuza swinging his blade in confusing yet precise strokes and his enemy avoiding every attempt with minimal movements nearly brushing against every attack.

At around one minute there were twenty three strikes and twenty three misses, but the engine only started, by two minutes there were sixty five strikes and sixty five misses, by the third minute there were a hundred and four strikes, but they all missed. At the end of the fourth minute with one hundred and fifty seven misses Zabuza jumped back to catch his breath unable to continue.

"Interesting. How very interesting. To move so fluidly, so fast, no friction. Yes, yes, I've figured out your trick Mr. Demon. A very interesting trick, so simple yet so complicated. Yes, yes. How nice. Your trick was interesting demon, however, also very lacking."

Zabuza was huffing, his dance was completely wasted, his fluid movements, each attack leading to the next without stop. All missing. Even against Sharingan no Kakashi with his predictive abilities he had been able to strike him. But this man, he was dangerous, so very dangerous.

"Impossible. How could you."

"Impossible? No, not quite so, possible, but improbable, your technique was good, it's just." In a single moment he was next to Zabuza with a kunai to his throat. "I'm better." Widening his eye in shock Zabuza reacted shifting his body's center of gravity and attempting to tackle his enemy, but just like how he got there, his enemy had long since gone out of his range. The lack of contact made Zabuza stumble, almost falling if not for his blade planted into the ground to support him.

"Close, but not that close."

"You could have killed me right there."

"Indeed."

"Why didn't you."

The man had no presence, but suddenly that also changed. In a moment nothing became everything. The killing intent he shoved towards everyone thickened the air, in that moment everyone felt death even though they had not yet died. The presence was so strong even Zabuza, a connoisseur of using his intent as a weapon flinched under the strength of the expelled pressure,even he felt death.

"I let you live little demon, little akuma, yes, I let you live. I let you live not from the goodness of my heart. No, no little one. I let you live so you can see."

The pressure and chakra emitted by the cloaked figure only intensified. His intent mixed with the abundance of ambient energy slowly forming into a shape. A figure of a man with multiple faces, with multiple hands, a being so inhuman, a being that was impossible. One of the faces glared, but was serene, an almost impossible combination, yet the figure made it work, another was angry, angry for blood, the last was laughing, as if enjoying a good joke. The figure towered above all others, a golden ring appearing behind it, it was inhuman, it was unnatural. The man's voice changed from cheerful to downright murderous. "Now who's the devil."

Zabuza responded by flaring his own killer intent forming the shape a skull like apparatus hanging in the air above him, then he charged again, imbuing chakra into his blade giving it a bluish hue. "I'm the devil" he screamed as he aimed to slashed, a wave of energy decimating everything in his path.

But then all was silent.

"No, I am." It was said quietly, almost as if it was a whisper carried in the wind. The unknown enemy was already behind the self proclaimed devil, his spike like apparatus stuffed straight into the middle of the demon's neck. Blood slowly dripped from the straight edge, each individual drop hitting the ground alongside the rain.

"Gurggg" Zabuza choked with a blade down the middle of his windpipe. Gurgling, unable to make any other voice as a spike was stabbed painfully from behind his neck.

He stayed there, almost as if magnetized to the metal weapon, defying gravity, but then the silence was broken as the blade was swiftly removed and Zabuza fell to the ground, his eyes lifeless, his body unmoving.

There was another moment of silence as the rest of the people on the bridge could not comprehend what just happened. An enemy they struggled so hard with was killed. Put down like a rabid dog just like the stranger had said. But the silence was broken, "Zabuza-sama" Haku cried as tears dropped from his face washed away by the dropping rainfall. "Zabuza-sama, No, Zabuza-sama." The he too was silenced.

A kunai flew straight from the sky whistling before it split through Haku's skull, breaking his head apart and then hitting the ground again.

"What the...:"

The stranger motioned as if pulling something towards him and the kunai immediately removed itself from the ground and flew back into his hand. "And he strikes, and he scores," he cried out enthusiastically as the others present on the bridge were stunned at such brutal death and display of skills. "Ah, and don't worry about Gato, I already took care of him, can't be too careful these days, give a man a bit of power, they think they're god. But then again, there's a true god in the midst." He half talked to the rest of the people and half rambled to himself, no one truly understanding the underlying words he had spoken. "There's a god in the midst, raining from the skies, he is strong, so very strong, but he hides in the rain, hides in the rain." He made a strange rhyme as he took one last look at the five people left alive on the bridge.

"Chow, see you later, alligator." He was cheerful once more. Then he was serious, "Little sister, stay alive, I'll see you again."

"What, no, it can't be, Naruto!." The blonde girl on the ground screamed as the now revealed Naruto looked at her, his eyes hidden by the fabric rimming his hat.

"Bye bye, little imouto-can, I'll be seeing you, I promise."

"No don't go, please, come back. I know you are innocent, no, come back, come back to me nii-chan"

He tilted his head, his eyes still hidden, "Now why would I do that?" By now he stood at the rail of the finished bridge, he waved once more and let himself fall down, down into the raging rivers separating the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire. He fell down, but just as he fell, just for a fraction of a second, there was a red glow where his eyes should be. Then he disappeared.

"No, Nii-chan, nii-chan, no, nii-chan, come back." The blonde haired girl cried out, tears falling from onto her cheeks. "No, nii-chan, come back."

But he was no longer there.

The raven haired girl in the team had only one thought. 'So that's what a devil looks like. That's Naruto Namikaze, former S-rank shinobi of Kohonagakure no Sato, son of the Fourth Hokage, killer of her traitorous clan excluding herself, her brother, and her mother. He was once a traitor and she once hated him, but when the hokage revealed the truth to a small group of people that her family were planning to revolt, she had forgiven him, even though she's never told him. He was exonerated of his crimes officially, but he remains a missing-nin, not returning home. No one knew what he was doing until he appeared in the bingo book years after his exile, appearing as a S-rank shinobi known as 'Jisatsu no Asura', also known simply as 'The Asura'. So that was a real devil' she thought to herself.

The last pink haired girl of the team had already passed out at the display of killing intent thrown around during the fight.

Kakashi only sighed to himself, a three girl cell, already troubling despite their apparently friendship and teamwork, now he has to appear, giving him only more work. He knew the rhyme Naruto had said before the end was more than a rhyme. There was a meaning, and Kakashi could somewhat guess at the meaning. A god, living in rain, Amegakure no Sato, strong, even he said the 'god' was strong, so they have to be careful, and he's in rain. 'Better report that to the Hokage', he thought to himself before he passed out into blissful sleep.

* * *

Two man both donning black oversized coats with red clouds slowly walked down the road. They wore identical straw hats, however, their heights were far from the same, one approached two meters in height and other only roughly a hundred and seventy. They walked forward, ever so slowly, their clothing pushed around by the gentle breeze.

"You showed yourself to them." After a long silence, the taller one finally spoke.

The shorter one didn't reply, not for a long while, "It was inevitable, the kyuubi might have gotten killed. You know our orders Kisame. Kyuubi must be kept alive."

"So the fact your sister was about to get killed had nothing to do with it?"

Naruto giggled, "Maybe, maybe not, not like you could do anything, or maybe, mister tough guy, maybe you want to fight?"

There was a quiet sigh, "Fighting with you is bad for my health, Aside from leader-sama I doubt anyone could beat you, not with those eyes."

Another giggle, "Leader-sama,Leader-sama, wherever you are, he's strong isn't he, Kisame, soon, yes, soon, the new world order will arise, and we'll watch it burn all again."

"I don't get you most of the time, and I've been following you for years already." The swordsman muttered to himself at his companions insanity.

"Ah, I should have gotten the body, I heard one of the legendary swords fetch a pretty high price in the market. And they bounty on their heads, dammit, why god, why, the money I could have made, what a shame, Kisame, why didn't you grab their bodies?"

"You told me to stay hidden."

"Well, use your common sense sometimes, I can't think of everything every time you know."

Kisame sighed again. 'I just don't get him.'

"So where are we heading to?" Kisame asked after a few minutes of walking with no obvious destination.

"I wonder."

"Don't I wonder me Naruto, god dammit."

"You shouldn't insult god you know, Leader-sama just might hear you."

Another deep sigh.

Naruto continued walking, in front of Kisame this time, "Anyways, we're heading to your home."

"Kiri? Why"

"Whelp, we got a job to do, people to kill, and monsters to hunt. Sometimes I hate working as a mercenary, it's so much work."

"Word. So what are we doing there?"

"The current Mizukage is a jinchuuriki, the Sanbi to be exact. We're gonna hunt him, then trap him, then keep him with us."

"Leader-sama didn't order us to do this Namikaze."

"True, but he will when he decides to actually put his plan into fruition, we do this now we have less work later." Naruto nodded as if his words were sagely.

Kisame thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging, he didn't really care.

"Kiri it is."

Naruto nodded again, "I hope you know the way, cause I have no idea where we're going."

Kisame let out a deep sigh again, before proceeding to walk in front of Naruto and lead him towards their destination.

* * *

"You mentioned meeting Naruto in your mission report?" The blonde man with a triangular straw hat with the kanji for fire on it asked Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded in affirmation, "Indeed, he was the one that killed Zabuza and Haku, saving me, my team, and my client."

"Interesting." Minato Namikaze looked down at his report. "So he mentioned some sort of god?"

Another nod, "Yes he did, if I may Hokage-sama, why did Naruto-kun not come back home after his exoneration?"

Minato sighed, "He said he had a mission to do, a personal one. I met with him only once these past six years, it was during the Hyuuga Incident, he was here in Konoha. How he got in I wouldn't know, but he was an ANBU here, he probably knows more than anyone else. I told him to come home, he had a family that loves him, a sister that misses him dearly. But he told me no." By now Minato Namikaze's eyes were full of sadness. "He told me he had a mission, something he had to do, and that to accomplish his mission he would tread the shadows."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. I done fucked up you know, Naruto was such a bright child in the past. Instead, I brought him up to be a monster, and he did that very well. He's strong isn't he, I read your report, to kill Zabuza is no small feat, to play with him before he killed him is nothing short of miraculous. I failed him, I failed my own son. He could have been the light of Konoha."

"It's not your fault sensei."

"It is. I pushed him away, Kushina and I, we pushed him away, we pushed away our baby son, and by the time we realized it and wanted him back, it was too late. Way too late. There's nothing we can do now, nothing to take back what we had done."

"It's not your fault sensei."

Minato sighed, "Everyone says that, but deep down," he pointed at his chest, his heart, "Deep down here, I know the truth. I failed him, I failed my own son.

* * *

A/N:

Jisatsu no Asura= Suicidal Asura

Asuras are considered differently in Buddhism and Hinduism. In Buddhism asuras are considered weak and just slighly above human beingsin strength. However, in Hinduism asuras are considered very powerful with strength matching or sometimes even overwhelming that of a deva. An asura is described with multiple heads or faces, and multiple arms.

Sasuke is female because I'm sick of Sasuke syndrome. If he's a guy, he'd be like, oh that motherfucker, killed my family, gotta kill him back even though he wasn't technically doing the wrong thing. I believe females to be more understanding, especially with Itachi and her mother I thing she'd be capable of forgiving, and it has been six years.

The prologue is more like an epilogue to the first act, the story will explore Naruto's childhood and why he's become essentially a psychopathic killer who's really strong. He's basically taking the place of Itachi in Akatsuki except more Konoha friendly, cause the important people knows he's innocent, well, not really, but like he was just doing he's mission, he's not exactly innocent cause he did kill the Uchiha family.

About FuD, I'll be continuing that story, I'll probably be able to post something in a week or two, I have an idea but I've never had to expand on it. So let's pray I get to finish a chapter or two :)

Peace out

-Wiltheavatar

PS I need betas for both stories :) Anyone interested can PM me


	2. Chapter 2

Treading the Shadows

* * *

Chapter 2: In the Beginning

* * *

 _David didn't kill Goliath because he set out to slay giants. He set out to give sandwhiches to his brothers, and Goliath got in the way._

 _-Richard Mullins on knowing God's will for your life_

* * *

The door to hokage residence was opened as a young blonde walked through. There was a red haired woman and a young blonde child sitting on the floor seemingly playing with each other.

The grown woman noticed the intruder, her eyes alert at first, but then softening as she saw her son enter their home. "Naru-chan?"

"Yo." Naruto replied absentmindedly. He's been home almost every other week so returning home is nothing new to him. He had been a very different trainee from the rest. He did the same training every day, but on his days off, yes, ROOT agents had days off, he was allowed to leave the training facility and go home to show his face. The other agents generally stayed within the compound since there were all sorts of entertainment present anyways.

"You've come home, Naru-chan, when are you leaving again?"

Naruto shook his head, "I'm done, I'll have two weeks rest before active service starts."

"ANBU training that hard? Your father was ANBU you know." Kushina nodded sagely, "He breezed through his training, well, he is one of the strongest shinobis anyways."

"Indeed, I have some down time before team assignments in two weeks, I'll rest a bit I guess."

"That's nice, can you keep your sister company a bit, I want to go find Mikoto and maybe bring their daughter over, I can't go anywhere if I'm the only one available when taking care of Tsubaki-chan you know."

"Why not leave it to one of the helpers?" Naruto asked.

Kushina shook her head and frowned, "I wouldn't trust my flesh and blood to another, I raised you like this, so I'll raise Tsubaki-chan the same way, and that's final."

Naruto nodded as he too sat down and started playing with the young blonde girl in front of him, the little girl kept screaming, "Naru-chan, Naru-chan."

When his mother was finally out of earshot having left to harass her friend, he sighed deeply.

* * *

Minato Namikaze sat in his office as he waited for his 'guests' to arrive. Over the last two weeks he had contemplated hard on which team to place his son in, and the decision was hard. On one hand his son had strength, Danzo's reports always described Naruto as strong, powerful, talented, always showing him in a positive light. So he was good, and Minato was sure that his son would want to fight in active battles thus it would be unwise to place him in a team that only primarily did border patrol. On the other hand the hokage wasn't ready to place his only son in active duty, being only twelve years old, no matter how talented or how powerful Naruto is.

So this only left one logical choice, he'd place the new ANBU initiate into a team that did active missions and were presumed the strongest active ANBU unit as of recent times. After he made his decision all that's left was to inform the ANBUs on the new roster change, and thus he had called them in.

"Inu, Itachi, Neko, Tenzo" he called out as four mask clad figures was let through the doors of his office. The four were of similar build, Inu, or dog, was tall and lanky, with distinctive silver white hair spiking from his hair. Itachi, or weasel, was shorter, but equally lanky, with dark hair diligently tamed running from the sides of his head reaching his shoulders. Neko, the female of the group was slightly shorter than Itachi, with flowing purple hair running down to her back, the distinctive feature being the long katana she had strapped on her back as opposed to the other's short tantos. Tenzo, the last of the team was the only man with no mask, his eyes emotionless, wearing a headband that was more similar to a helmet then a simple band.

"Hai hokage-sama." The four called in practiced unity and stood in attention. "Team Ro, reporting for duty, sir."

"At ease, Team Ro, I have a new addition to your team."

The four were puzzled, it's uncommon for new additions to be added into Team Ro since they're team often ran suicide missions and only the edge of the blade would be assigned into Team Ro. Team Ro had always been a four-men cell, a new addition would be a change to traditions, however, no one voiced their opinions.

"Karasu, come in." In response to his order another ANBU masked individual walked in. He was noticeably shorter than everyone else present, nearly a head shorter than Minato, with the same shade of blonde, but instead of it being spiky it was tamed much like Itachi. His mask however, was vastly different than the others, it was shaped like an animal, a crow to be exact, however, it was pitch black compared to everyone's white mask.

"This is Karasu, he will be the newest addition to Team Ro."

"Yo. How's it going." The new ANBU was casual as he greeted his new teammates with a slight nod. "Nice meeting ya, name's Karasu, please take care of me." A standard greeting without the normal honorifics one would use to address an elder.

Any other senpai might have been offended, but they were ANBU, such quirks were, to be honest, accepted, as long as he did his job well.

"I'm Inu."

"I'm Neko."

"Itachi."

"Tenzo."

The four gave their names as an introduction, they were ANBU, they didn't need to know each other well, they just needed to work well together.

"Karasu, you are now part of Team Ro, effective immediately. Are there any questions?"

Karasu shook his head, "No sir, your wish is my command." There was a slight twinge of sarcasm in his reply but if anyone caught it, they did nothing to respond.

"Good, you've all had your rest time, I have a mission for you. Inu, would you kindly?"

At the implied order Inu stepped out of the line made by the five, Minato gave him a scroll, then continued. "Lately, there have been reports of Iwa-nin trespassing into our territories. It seems to only be recon parties, what they're looking nobody knows as of now. Your mission is travel to Outpost 23 near the border and investigate these Iwa-nin's goals. Our outpost had been left unharassed as of now, however, unannounced trespassing is clearly against our treaty. If you meet any Iwa-nin within our borders and I stress, our borders, you have permission to engage. Lethal or nonlethal is up to your discretion, however, a prisoner would be beneficial to our attempts at uncovering their motives. Is the mission perimeters clear?"

The five nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

The hokage nodded, "Good. You are dismissed."

The five walked out of the room orderly, then disappeared in a burst of speed right outside the door.

Before the last man walked out, Minato spoke. "Naruto."

Karasu paused before he slowly turned to face his father.

"Good luck and stay safe, your mother would be devastated if anything happened to you."

There was a slight chuckle, "I guess. But don't you worry, I'll be fine, I'm strong now, after all, I've already been to hell and back."

After his short response he followed the rest of his team and disappeared outside the office.

Alone, Minato sighed. He already knew, he already knew he'd lost his son.

* * *

"Fuck. Tenzo, cover us."

"On it captain." There was a loud explosion lighting up the forests of Hi no Kuni.

The mission a had gone well at first, they've arrived at Outpost 23 with no difficulties. The surrounding forest had allowed good cover as the team of five did several recon missions over the last week. They've caught signs of enemy intrusion but haven't managed to confirm them yet, so they have stayed and continued watch for another week.

That was until today, the day were planning to leave, that's the day all hell broke lose.

It was early morning when Team Ro was still within the confines of the outpost, a small settlement raised by wooden fence covered by stones. It was a small yet important outpost since it was the closest fort to Iwa, less than a kilometer away from the border. The guard station held more than twenty chunnins and two special jounins, all regularly shuffled around with a jounin who stayed semi-permanently as the leader of the camp. Despite it's size it's actually considered a large encampment due to the amount of manpower it houses, it's an instant reaction platoon ready to go to action the moment an emergency arise.

And an emergency did come.

The sun barely rose, still on the horizon, then the peace and serenity was shattered by an explosion rocking the seal enhanced walls of Outpost 23.

Alarms were sounded, shinobis hastily got ready for action, but by the time they had an idea of what's going on the main gate had already been bombarded and more than five guards killed.

Walking in brazenly, without worries, without concern was perhaps probably their worst nightmare.

In walked Deidara, one of the most renowned explosion corps member, a pupil of the Tsukikage, considered one of the current aces of Iwagakure. By the time the five ANBU were ready, the outpost had been overrun by six other Iwa-nin under the cover of Deidara's explosions.

The survivors and ran into the cover of the forest surrounding them, trying their best to escape and return to their village to report their findings.

Thus they were in their situation now, hunted in the forest, trying their best to dash back to their home, intent of telling their hokage the transgressions of Iwagakure.

Another explosion resonated throughout the tree filled region, the five ANBU frantically trying to find a way to solve their problems.

"Inu-taichou" Karasu asked as he sped up to match his captain's pace. Inu looked at him.

"What is it Karasu."

"I have a plan," the black masked man nodded sagely as if he had the best idea in the world.

Kakashi just looked at him then nodded, "Speak."

"You guys go, I'll hold them back."

"Denied." Karasu's request was instantly rejected.

There was a light sigh, "Go, I can hold them back, then escape, you guys need to run to Konoha, we have to tell Hokage-sama of Iwa's actions, someone has to survive."

"We're a team. A dear friend of mine once told me, 'while those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash', I won't be worse than trash. The decision is final Karasu, we work as a team."

Another sigh, "That's a great sentiment taichou, but we can't make it, be realistic here, I'll hold them back, I can survive, don't worry 'bout me, I got this."

"No, we work together."

"The we gotta fight, we can't keep this up forever, if we tire ourselves like this and get caught, we stand no chance, we gotta fight them well we still have the energy."

Inu knew that was the truth, the enemy is gaining on them, if they continued wasting energy like this, if they do get caught up, they'd lose for sure, mounting a counter when the enemy didn't expect it was definitely a wise idea.

So he signaled, and the five converged.

"Taichou?" Itachi asked. The other three team members remained quiet.

Inu spoke, "We need to mount an offensive here, we can't keep running." The others nodded. "The main enemy is Deidara, he's classified as S-rank, he's definitely the most dangerous of their strike group. From previous accounts they have seven ninjas, amongst them at least three exhibit skills befitting of jounin-class. We're outnumbered, but not necessarily outgunned, we're Team Ro, one of the top teams within ANBU, we will strike, and we will win."

"Hai." The four responded.

He continued, "We well strike them now, turn around and attack, delta formation, I'll take point."

Having not trained enough with them Karasu asked, "What's delta formation?"

Inu sighed, he wished he had a few days to at least drill their team formations into this young ANBU's head, well, at least he knew the hand signals. "Karasu, just do whatever, and don't die."

No one could see the grin underneath Naruto's black mask, but he was happy, 'time to hunt.'

The four others made a diamond-like formation with Inu at the front, and then they jumped in formation, determined to pierce the enemy's formation and strike them down. Karasu just snickered and disappeared in a burst of speed.

* * *

"Fuck. Tenzo, cover us."

"On it captain." There was a loud explosion lighting up the forests of Hi no Kuni. He planted his hand into one of the many trees surrounding them and the tree morphed into a gigantic shield. His shield was just in time as an explosion rocked against it but didn't penetrate the chakra enhanced wooden shield.

"Shield down in 3, 2, 1." Inu commanded, at 1 Tenzo split opened his shield and Itachi was right there.

"Fire release, great fireball technique." With a heave he spat a fireball in the general direction of the enemy but didn't bother to watch it as Tenzo reclosed their shield.

Inu readied a kunai as Neko drew her katana, then he asked suddenly in alarm, "Where's Karasu."

The other three looked at him, "Shit, we lost him, where's Karasu. Did he run?"

Just as Inu asked his team they heard a cry, "Raiton, false darkness." Tenzo hastily opened a whole in the shield, just in time to see a streak of light burst from the tree behind them, obliterating everything in its path including an Iwa-nin too slow to dodge.

They saw Karasu dash forward towards the six remaining ninjas and made several complicated hand seals, "Lightning release, thunder god's wrath." When he finished his seals, the chakra around him condensed forming a ring of drums with three tomoe marked on the flat of each instrument. They hovered behind the young ANBU glowing blue for a moment before the whole area was bathed in white light.

The result was no less than extreme, an area of twenty meters from the epicenter was simply annihilated, however, Deidara successfully dodged the technique with two Iwa-nins behind him.

"Konoha scum."

Karasu up at the bomber who stood on a branch with two allies beside him. Then he disappeared in a flash of white light, appearing behind the three enemy shinobis. They turned in response, but Naruto already had his hand extended covering two of them in the face, not even speaking as as he generated several thousand volts of electricity into his adversary, frying their organs and charring their skins black beyond recognition.

He simply let the two bodies fall the the ground without a word.

Deidara looked at him and jumped trying to escape.

But Karasu was faster. Deciding to make a gamble Deidara aimed a jutsu at his opponent's teammates hoping he'd go save them first, and true to his predictions the Konoha-nin grunted and intercepted the clay bird with a slice of his tanto, but by the time he turned, Deidara had already escaped.

"What was that?" Neko asked, astonished at the newcomer's strength. No one could respond. They simply waited as the blonde slowly walked towards them, an oppressive aura around him.

* * *

They head back towards the outpost seeing if there are any survivors. Tenzo thought as they walked towards the base, 'ROOT, definitely ROOT, why is there a ROOT in ANBU, hokage-sama seems to know as well.'

"Mission was a success hokage-sama." Inu reported, his team had been dismissed since he thought they deserved a rest, therefore the responsibility fell on him to make the final report.

Minato nodded, skimming through the documents given to him, Team Ro had spent an additional day at Outpost 23, which thankfully still stood, nearly half of the original inhabitants had been killed, but on the bright side nearly half had survived the skirmish.

Kakashi had spent the last day writing his report so he wouldn't have to suffer through it later, the others had simply lazed around, Karasu didn't stay to talk to his team, choosing to have some alone time. The blonde wasn't happy, and Kakashi knew why. It was his team's fault that Deidara had gotten away, Karasu was clearly in an advantageous position to defeat Deidara, if it wasn't the rest of Team Ro's presence, Deidara would have been dead. Karasu didn't speak of it, but the rest of Team Ro understood his displeasure, it isn't every day you get to fight a S-rank and he wasn't able to obtain a trophy for having bested one.

Kakashi continued, "We were engaged upon by the Iwa-nin including Deidara, who raided our outpost, they killed more than ten shinobis, we would all have died if not for Karasu."

Minato nodded, "Indeed, he's strong isn't he."

The ANBU nodded in confirmation. "Very much so, hokage-sama, who was he?"

"He is Karasu, your new kouhai."

"No hokage-sama, I meant, who is he, where did he come from, someone of his caliber is unheard of, he's private, normally during off time we take off our masks, but he, Karasu, he's either not there with us, or he has his mask on."

"He, Kakashi, Karasu, he, is my son."

"Your son?"

"Yes, Naruto, you remember him before? He was in the academy, you've met him."

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, Naruto, I remember him, but I didn't know he was so strong. And he's just turning thirteen isn't he? He used a jutsu, that one's definitely borderline S-rank if not outright a S-rank, and he's fast, almost as fast as…"

He was cut off by Minato, "Lightning, yes, I know. He's strong, he's fast, I saw his technique before. But that's not all he can do, it's just a part of what he's capable of. After the Kyuubi outbreak I sent him to train, and train he did. He soaked up jutsu, his massive reserves allowed him to continuously train and use high caliber jutsus. Did you know, he learned my rasengan in a week, a week. And from what his teacher told me he already improved it, he took my technique and made it his own. I'm proud of him."

"Why don't you tell him that Minato-sensei?"

"I have no right to, I gave him away in a moment of weakness, I should have been the one to teach him his jutsus, to help him become a ninja, but I outsourced, I failed as a father. I was given a solution, and it blinded me, and it haunts me still."

"Was it Jiraiya-sama that trained him? If so, I'm sure he was in good hands."

Minato chuckled, "No, Raiya, nah, he hasn't been back in the village for more than a week in the last several years, what I did to my son was worse, much worse."

"Mina-sensei, what did you do?"

* * *

 _Namikaze Naruto had been a lackluster shinobi. He had the reserves, he had the genes, he had the talent, but he didn't have the drive. Being borne by two exceptionally powerful shinobis, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, he was born with latent talents other people his age just didn't have. He had an enormous reserve thanks to his mother, a reserve comparable to an adult shinobi, and he was born with brains thanks to his father, a prodigy in the ninja arts. But Namikaze Naruto just lacked the drive._

 _In the academy he was an average student, had friends, albeit not many, and got along with everyone else. He was slightly above average in grades, he was one of the betters in practical skills, he was all in all, a very average student despite everyone having high hopes for him. He was good, but only good for an academy student, he was smart, but only when he applied himself, he strived to be normal despite his abnormal parents._

 _But all that was changed the year Namikaze Naruto was ten, when he received his younger sister, the day Konoha suffered immense losses. The day Namikaze Naruto changed was October tenth, the night of the Kyuubi attack._

 _It wasn't exactly an instantaneous change, it gave him a reason to change, to become stronger. You see, Naruto loved his family very much. Despite his parents being somewhat disappointed at him most of the time for being so 'normal', Naruto always loved his parents. He's known he will be having a sister for a long time now, known that his mother was pregnant, and he was glad there will be a new family member that he could love._

 _Except everything horribly wrong the night his sister was to be born. The Kyuubi was released, his parents nearly died, if it wasn't for the valiant sacrifice of his surrogate grandfather then his parents would have surely died._

 _The only bright side of the whole Kyuubi ordeal was birth of his new sister, the one they called Namikaze Tsubaki._

 _Naruto loves his family, so he will strive to protect them, sacrificing everything for that power, to become strong enough so his family will be endangered no longer. It became his drive, is resolve, his motivation to move beyond average._

* * *

 _"What did you say Shimura-san? Did I just hear you correctly?" Minato asked with an edge in his voice. The two were currently situated alone in the Hokage's office, a heated discussion slowly blooming between the two._

 _"Did I stutter, Hokage-sama? I do believe you heard me correctly." Danzo Shimura answered nonchalantly without losing his cool._

 _Minato was not happy, not happy being an understatement to what he's feeling right now. "You want me, Namikaze Minato, who treasures his family above all else, to give you my newborn daughter Namikaze Tsubaki, so you can turn her into a weapon for Konoha?" He accentuated every name, showing his displeasure. "You dare."_

 _"I do Hokage-sama, after Kyuubi's outbreak and resealing into young Tsubaki, it is essential that our village reacquires assets to make ourselves as strong as possible within the lowest timeframe. I believe by allowing me to train young Tsubaki, we can create the sharpest weapon that is only beneficial to Konoha."_

 _"You, not we. You don't want me to interfere if I agree with this."_

 _Danzo nodded, "That goes without saying. It is essential that the new jinchuuriki of Konoha has her loyalties tightly established and her edges sharpened, then we can point it at the enemies of Konoha and reestablish ourselves as the strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations."_

 _"No. I cannot, no, I will not condemn my daughter to this fate. Remember Danzo, I let your organization continue because I find your ninjas useful, and I cannot disband you at this time because the boost in manpower within ANBU and normal forces is appreciated. Don't let my willingness to let you continue be seen as a sign of weakness. I do not agree with what you do to your forces. I do not condone your actions, and I sure as hell will not give you my daughter."_

 _Danzo nodded again. "Acceptable, your emotions are a weakness Namikaze-sama, if you put more rational thoughts into this debacle you will only see the advantages. I am an old man Hokage-sama, I need a successor, who better than the flesh and blood of the Hokage himself? If you give me your daughter, I can make her into a weapon, then into a leader, she can help you lead your country from the shadows. You do not agree with my actions, I can live with that, wouldn't you feel more at ease if it is your own family that takes the crown when I leave this mortal plane?"_

 _Minato thought about it for a while, then nodded with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Your words have merit Shimura-san, but I cannot condemn my newborn daughter to your cruel measures. You must understand, she's barely a week old and you want me to place them in your hands? It's impossible, and that's final."_

 _Danzo nodded again, "Acceptable, sound reasoning, then I ask this of you, Hokage-sama, what about your son?"_

 _"What about Naruto?"_

 _"He is young, he is promising. He has the chakra reserve rivaling most adult shinobis, he has a sharp mind, the Uzumaki lifeforce. He has the potential to be strong, if only he didn't waste it on lazing around in class and pretending to be normal."_

 _"Be careful of your words Danzo, it is my son you're talking about."_

 _Danzo nodded yet again, "I mean no disrespect Hokage-sama, it just pains me to see such potential dwindle away through bad decisions. There's one more thing that makes him perhaps more advantageous in the future."_

 _Minato asked, "What's that?"_

 _Danzo smiled, his grin almost sinister, "He is the jinchuuriki's brother. Jinchuurikis throughout history have always been hard to control, young Naruto is her brother, if you can control Naruto, then you can most definitely control his sister. The familial bonds will only work in our advantage. A normal shinobi is easier to keep anyways, more manageable than a jinchuuriki at any rate."_

 _"I get where you're coming from, but I don't wish to condemn my son to your machinations either."_

 _"Why don't we ask him ourselves? If he agrees, he comes with me, if he disagrees, I won't pester you no longer. But allow me to ask him the question."_

 _Minato nodded, "I guess, if it's his choice, then I have no right to complain."_

 _"Yes, yes, let us go find young Naruto, a new legend within Konoha is about to begin."_

* * *

 _"I am Shimura Danzo, the leader of a special faction within ANBU known as ROOT. Young Naruto, do you want to be stronger?"_

 _Naruto nodded, his eyes cold with resolve. "Yes sir."_

 _"The training will be harsh, you might want to quit, are you sure, young boy?"_

 _Naruto nodded again, "I will persevere, I will not fail, I will protect everyone."_

 _Danzo nodded. "That you will, now come with me young boy, we have a long day in front of us." The old man put an arm around Naruto's neck, bringing him along, urging him to follow._

 _Meanwhile Minato looked at the pair, tears filling his eyes, he knew at that moment that he had sacrificed his son for the village. He had condemned his son to unimaginable hardships so his village could be stronger. He had put his village above his family again, and he vowed never to do it again._

* * *

 _"This is your final test Namikaze Naruto. If you choose to complete it, you will become one of the many ROOTs of Konoha. You will become the FOUNDATION of our glorious village, doing your job in the darkness. The root supports the tree from the darkness, the root grants strength to the tree, we are the same, we live to fight for our village."_

 _"Yes sir." Naruto nodded, his eyes hardened and cold. "I will complete the final assignment."_

 _"I know you will. Your partner has also chosen to participate."_

 _'Partner?' Naruto asked himself._

 _He was lead out of the room, into a small rectangular arena. In front of him stood 'him'. 'He' had been his partner for two years, the two had been friends, supporting each other in the times of need. Shinobi of Ne were discouraged from making friends outside of their partners. 'He' stood before him. They trained together, learned together, did missions together, they had thought they would be in the same two-men cell forever. But the harsh reality was in front of them._

 _"Now fight, to the death, the victor will become a true FOUNDATION to our great tree, the loser will be cast to the shadows."_

 _Naruto swallowed. 'He' looked at him impassively. Then 'He' spoke. "I wish it hadn't come to this Namikaze-san. I didn't want to fight you."_

 _"I don't want to either." It was the only thing Naruto could reply with._

 _'He' drew his kunai, and Naruto drew his own. There was no weakness, their eyes once gazing at each other warmly were now cold as ice. ROOT is not for the faint of heart, this they've both known a long time ago._

 _They both charged, by then the victor was already decided. 'He' laid on the ground, blood streaming from his neck. The cut wasn't deep enough to slice through his windpipe, but it was deep enough for the bleeding to be nigh unstoppable._

 _'He' looked up at Naruto. "Don't be sad, Naru-chan, don't be sad. You're so strong now, to be honest the moment I knew my opponent was you I knew I couldn't win. Not against you. Not against the strongest amongst the new recruits, no, not just the recruits, the strongest operative in ROOT. You live now, not just for yourself Naru-chan, you live for the both of us."_

 _Naruto looked down, tears trailing down his blinking eyes, unsure of what he had just done. "No, don't die, this wasn't what's supposed to happen. He looked at Danzo who stood impassively outside the arena fence. "Danzo, why, why did you do this to me. Why?"_

 _There was no response._

 _Naruto looked down again, by that time his only friend had already bled out and died. He stabbed his kunai into the heart of his only friend. "I swear, I will become even stronger, I will become the strongest, so that we are no longer needed, so that no one has to be sacrificed again. I swear I will become stronger, become stronger than anyone else." And there was a pause as tears continued to stream down his azure blue pupils, "And I never break my promises."_

 _Danzo Shimura walked towards Naruto ever so slowly, on guard just in case the blonde decided to retaliate the source of his recent misfortunes. "You have completed your training Namikaze Naruto. You have passed your last task."_

 _"I really wish I didn't. Tell me Danzo, why, why did I have to do this."_

 _Danzo sighed, "It had to be done, trust me, young ROOT, this will only make you stronger in the long run. You are no stranger to death having killed many times, this should be no different."_

 _"But he was my friend, my only friend for two years, Danzo, why did you make me kill him?"_

 _"That is the purpose of the exercise. To kill your target is your mission. Who the mark is shouldn't matter. And you have shown excellence in your training, I was sure you would have passed."_

 _Naruto sighed, unable to stop the flow of salty water trailing his cheeks. "I wish I never took you up on your offer."_

 _"No, Naruto, I've told you many times, your father entrusted you to me, I polished you up, you have become strong, stronger than most jounin, definitely as strong as many of the ANBU under your father's employment. It's only been two years and you have grown so far."_

 _"This strength, this strength I gained, tell me Danzo-sama, is it really worth it?"_

 _Danzo smiled at his young protege and answered with a question, "Do you wish to protect your village?"_

 _Naruto nodded, his tears finally seizing to fall. "Yes."_

 _Danzo nodded and pet the young boy's head, "Then it is most definitely worth the price."_

 _There was a moment of silence between the two before Danzo started again. "You have two weeks of rest, then you will be integrated with several other ROOT members into ANBU. You will raise your ranks to the best of your abilities. From now on you are ROOT, but you are also not ROOT. You have our training, you have our ideology, but your place is in the light, and we will be your shadow. You will report to Hokage tower in two weeks time, a message will be sent to you as notification. Godspeed Namikaze Naruto."_

 _With that Danzo Shimura left the boy to his own devices, reintegration into ANBU and regular forces is what Minato had wanted. The Hokage had been keeping tabs on his son's progress and had already prepared a place within the ANBU for his oldest son. Danzo smiled and said to himself, "You will be great Naruto, greater than anyone this tree has spawned. Be great Naruto, and the ROOT will support you as their tree."_

* * *

Minato chuckled again, looking at his former student with eyes that seemed to have aged a decade within a minute, his laugh was sad, a dry sound with no sense of humor. "I sold him to root.

* * *

JUTSUS:

Lightning Release: Thundergod's Wrath

A+/S Rank

Anti Army

Forms a ring of drums which saturates themselves with energy, then releases the stored energy obliterating everything in a pillar of light. The jutsu originates from the god Raijin, or Thunder God, who was depicted as a deity with demonic visage and a defining trait of o a ring of drums hanging behind him.

* * *

A/N:

The formatting is kind of messed up, so the itallicized regions are flashbacks, it's kinda obvious but yeah watever

Anyways, I will slowly build up his back story, the first part of the story will end next chapter, but the speed will slow down drastically next chapter since I'm not revealing his whole back story to why he's so fucked up all in one go, he's head is kinda messy thanks to danzo, but the conditioning didn't really stick, like he is a good shinobi, but he can think too, kinda like Kenchi's Sealed Kunai

The chapter's kinda rough around the edges with grammar/spelling mistakes in spades. I'm just rapidly updating hoping I'd attract enough people and someone will be willing to beta for me... :_

Anyways, hope people liked it, I know not many read it, but wtvr, i was just bored, anyhow, leave a review, i like'em and i respond to most of them :)

Peace out

-Wiltheavatar


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